Two Years!

Hey there super fans!  Can you believe we've been married for two years already?  I know, it's flown by!  We didn't do a whole lot on the day of our anniversary.  We both worked, then went to a nice dinner.  However, we plan to stay for several nights in a nice bed and breakfast in North Carolina in July, then a few nights in Virginia atMom & Dad Long's, followed by a nice resort escape in some location yet-to-be determined.  Maybe the Virgin Islands?  Maybe we'll see. . .

Anyway, to celebrate our milestone, I thought I would post a few pictures from the occasion:

Look at these two crazy guys.  Which one seems more nervous?

The Little Chapel in the Woods was perfect for our wedding.  Quite lovely.

And, speaking of quite lovely, here is the blushing bride!  Or should I say the burping bride?  No, probably the first one.  Any way, she's looking hot!

Ah, the dancing.  Let me tell you, getting hitched is nerve-wracking enough to begin with.  Okay, now throw in some choreographed dance routines and tell me how you feel.  Terrified?  Yes.  A wee bit. 

Ol' Andy Pants here caught the garter.  Some time later he got himself married off.  Could be a coincidence.  But that was indeed a magical garter.

And let us not forget the star of the show!  The Nintendo cake was delicious and edutaining!

Here we see the bride - um - doing . . . like, I don't know.  Some kind of Donkey Kong dance or something?  Anyway, she's having fun.

I had a tough time deciding which pictures to include in the blog.  There are so many to choose from, and a lot of highlights that some of you haven't seen and that others may have forgotten.  I guess I'll have to update next year with different photos. 

Two years later and we are still every bit as in love as we were that day.  We are planning big things for year three!  Well, not really big things.  Fun stuff, though.  Not kids.  Kids now?  Are you crazy?  We've got things to do! 

Your friends,

The Two-Year Longs

College is hard!

Here's UTA's impressive new Engineering Research Building.

Hello all!  Steven Long here.  For those few parties interested to know, UT Arlington posted my final grades from the Spring semester today.

Now, to really grasp the significance here, one must understand the full situation.  You see, I am attending UTA thanks to a combination of federal grant money, loans and a scholarship.  All three of these items are dependant upon my maintaining a GPA greater than 2.0.  Unfortunately I was met with disaster last Fall and managed to fail both classes I took.  The reasons for this are many, and I will spare you the gory details, but the main point is that I thought re-taking a course would replace the previous failing grade.  At UTA this is not the case.  I only have a thin window of time in which I can appeal to have a grade dropped from my GPA.  Are you following this?  So my GPA is abysmal.  Furthermore, I am stuck with the confounded grade until the next Fall semester starts.

Long explanation abbreviated, I need to bring my GPA up to par in order to continue receiving my scholarship and grant.  Also I need a certain GPA to register for classes next semester or I am on "academic probation."  In other words, they think I need to chill out and get my junk together.  But when series of calculus classes are involved, taking a break is a bad idea. 

At any rate, My grades are as follows:

Class Description Units Grading Grade Grade Points CE 1104 INTRO TO ENGR 1.00 Graded B 3.000 ENGL 2309 WORLD LIT 3.00 Graded A 12.000 MATH 1426 CALCULUS I 4.00 Graded C 8.000

Let me translate:  World Literature:  Great! Engineering:  Good enough! Calculus:  Eh. . .  I think it is important to note here that Cal I has about a 30% pass rate.  Therefore a C in calculus is exceptional and I am happy with it.  However, I needed a B in order to bring my GPA up.  So what shall I do?  Now I must submit a formal appeal to the powers that be and the long paper trail continues.  Sigh. Alright, enough of this!  We do other stuff too, you know. Here Jennifer is modeling a lovely hat from the Scottish festival we attended.  Looking good! And this is Jennifer showing her sensitive side.  Aaaw!  Yes, she is still working at the animal clinic and yes she still loves aminals!  And this birdie loves her back. And as for me?  Well, I am still frollicking and running.  I am running in another wacky obstacle race on June 16.  I am working hard and feeling swell and Ellie is my personal trainer.  Thanks Ellie!

So you're probably thinking: "Don't these guys have anything better to do than post pictures of their animals?  Why don't they get a life?"

Excellent question!  And one to which I have no answer.  But you know, it's different when they're yours.

 Anyway, so here's a great action shot of Ellie licking her nose in the wildflowers.  Turns out there is a protected expanse of native Texas grassland behind our neighborhood.  There are walking trails and a playground and all kinds of fun stuff.

Would you believe these pictures were taken about one mile from our house?  Just a few minutes from downtown!  Wonders never cease here in Fort Worth.

Photos, of course, are courtesy of Jennifer Long.  Nice work!

Jennifer snapped this adorable candid picture of our Kitty-Girl, Ashtray.  Ashtray?  Yes.  Steven named her.  Suits her, don't you think?  We also took Ellie for a romp through the wildflowers, but those photos aren't ready yet.  We also also attended the Scottish festival in Arlington at UTA, but not too many photos were taken.  They had a lot of free beer though.  Steven thought free beer would be a good way to forget about his calculus final.  Instead, he ended up missing work the following day.  Bad idea, Steven.  Bad idea.

Didn't we tell you we wouldn't update very often?  Well you need to listen to us because we aren't just making this stuff up!  At any rate, we've been up to a lot since last update.  Obviously we got married and are still married.  We bought a house.  Jenn started taking pictures of stuff.  I got a baby degree and moved on to University of Texas in Arlington.  Jenn has become involved in the not-for-profit organization the Art of Living and making all sorts of new friends.

Yes, we've been quite busy!  Another thing that happened is that our computer died and we lost a lot of pictures.  Well, they aren't lost exactly.  But they're on the laptop and the laptop is slow and I'm kind of lazy so they just sit there for now.

Last Sunday Steven decided it would be fun to run a muddy 5K obstacle course called the Warrior Dash.  The Dash is a charity event and so far for the year they've raised over $100,000 for St. Jude's Children.  If anyone is interested, Steven placed 498th out of over 5000 with a time of 36:26.  That's minutes and seconds, not hours and minutes.

Here are a few highlights, courtesy of Jenn's photo-snapping:

As I was signing my life away, a volunteer rushed into the waiver tent and told one of the other volunteers they needed help with a runner who had fallen from an obstacle and probably broke his leg.

Wacky costumes are encouraged at the Warrior Dash.

This is me and my friend Cameron, pre-mud.

Shootin' at the Walls of Heartache?  We are the warriors!  Remember that song?  Ugh.

Here's Steven in the final stretch.

After you finish, they give you a muddy banana.  Yum!

. . .And here's the team with mud.  Lots and lots of mud.

Alright gang, that's it for now.  We're doing some more interesting stuff this weekend so maybe we can find time to post some more and ramble some more.  Time will tell.  If not, maybe we'll post again in two more years? 

Good night and Good day!





Our Lovely Wedding

May 30, 2010 is the big day! While we are still wading through the specifics, I thought some of you might be interested in the chapel we chose for the ceremony.

The Little Chapel in the Woods is located on the Texas Woman's University (TWU) campus in Denton, TX. While it is not really "in the woods," it is most certainly "little." In fact, space is going to be at a premium at the ceremony so I need all friends and family to start dieting now so we can squeeze a few more in there.

The chapel was built in 1939. The artwork, including this stained-glass window, was designed and created by students of the university, as was the lighting, flooring, and woodwork. Very nice.

While these photos make the chapel seem very bright and cheerful, I assure you it is actually quite dark and dungeony.

Alright, I guess that's all for now. We'll be back soon with more pictures and stuff. You think I don't have anything better to do than update my blog? Jeez Louize!

Look, We Blog Too!

So this is our blog. Yes we are a little late, but better late than cliche`. HA!

Don't expect us, family and friends, to update this too often. We are easily distracted and we're sure nobody cares too much about our junk. But for the sake of keeping up with the times, here we are.

We're not really sure what to blog about, so we'll just throw some pictures at you.

Here's Loc Dogg or "Loki" as he is more commonly known. As some of you may already know, Loki is the Norse god of chaos. Nah, I don't know what he's god of. But he sure is fuzzy!

Oh, just pulling some weeds with my buddy-bud. Jenna couldn't resist this shot of my butt crack. She took several, but this is the best! Delicious!

This is Ashtray or "Kitty Girl." She is a sweetie-poo. She recently recovered from an upper-respiratory illness. She is now feeling purr-fect. Get it? Cause she's a cat?

Here she is again with an over-the-shoulder glamour shot. Stunning!

Speaking of glamour shots, here is our model dog. She loves to pose for pictures. What a cheeser!

So this is Eleanor Rigby or Ellie or Ellie Belly or any of the other crazy crap we call her. She is awfully cute and awfully good.

Captain Byrd is the latest addition to our family. He is a quaker parrot. He doesn't say much, but he's sure good at cleaning faces. Really, he will sit on your shoulder and nibble the grease off your face for hours. Isn't that precious? No? Oh well.

So that's our little family. You'll notice none of our children are human beings. That's because animals smell better and are cheaper. And if they really get on your nerves, you can give them away or eat them! Mmmmm, hot dogs! And hot cats, too.